Introduction
Viruses, of varied etiology, affect billions of animals and humans each year and inflict an enormous economic burden on society. Many viruses contain lipid as a major component of the membrane that surrounds them. Viruses affect animals and humans causing extreme suffering, morbidity, and mortality. These viruses travel throughout the body in biological fluids such as blood, peritoneal fluid, lymphatic fluid, pleural fluid, pericardial fluid, cerebrospinal fluid, and in various fluids of the reproductive system. Fluid contact at any site promotes transmission of disease. Other viruses reside primarily in different organ systems and in specific tissues, proliferate and then enter the circulatory system to gain access to other tissues and organs at remote sites. If the body does not exhibit a positive immune response against these pathogens, they infect many cell types within the body, inhibiting these cells from performing their normal functions.
The human immune system is composed of various cell types that collectively protect the body from different viruses. The immune system provides multiple means for targeting and eliminating foreign elements, including humoral and cellular immune responses, participating primarily in antigen recognition and elimination. An immune response to foreign elements requires the presence of B-lymphocytes (B cells) or T-lymphocytes (T cells) in combination with antigen-presenting cells (APC), which are usually macrophage or dendrite cells. The APCs are specialized immune cells that capture antigens. Once inside an APC, antigens are broken down into smaller fragments called epitopes—the unique markers carried by the antigen surface. These epitopes are subsequently displayed on the surface of the APCs and are responsible for triggering an antibody response in defense of the infection.
In a humoral immune response, when an APC displaying antigens (in the form of unique epitope markers) foreign to the body are recognized, B cells are activated, proliferating and producing antibodies. These antibodies specifically bind to the antigens present on the virus. After the antibody attaches, the APC engulfs the entire antigen and kills it. This type of antibody immune response is primarily involved in the prevention of viral infection.
In a cellular immune response, T cells are activated on recognizing the antigen displayed on the APC. There are two steps in the cellular immune response. The first step involves activation of cytotoxic T cells (CTL) or CD8+ T killer cells that proliferate and kill target cells that specifically present antigens. The second involves helper T cells (HTL) or CD4+ T cells that regulate the production of antibodies and the activity of CD8+ cells. The CD4+ T cells provide growth factors to CD8+ T cells that allow them to proliferate and function efficiently.
Certain infective pathogens are deemed “chronic” due to their structure. For example, some viruses are able to evade an immune response because of their ability to hide some of their antigens from the immune system. Viruses contain an outer envelope made up of lipids and fats derived from the host cell membrane during the budding process. Viruses are comprised of virions, non-cellular infectious agents consisting of a single type of nucleic acid (either RNA or DNA), surrounded by a protein coat. The outer protein covering of viruses is called a capsid, made up of repeating subunits called capsomeres.
Since viruses are non-metabolic, they only reproduce within living host cells. The virus codes the proteins of the viral envelope while the host cell codes the lipids and carbohydrates. Therefore, the lipid and carbohydrate content within a given viral envelope is dependent on the particular host. The enveloped viral particles therefore partially adopt the identity of the host cell, via lipid and carbohydrate content, and are able to conceal antigens associated with them, which would normally have initiated an immune response. Instead, the viral particle confuses the host immune system by presenting it with an antigenic complex that contains components of host tissues, and is perceived by the host immune system as partly “self” and partly “foreign”. The immune system is forced to produce the “compromise”, ineffective antibodies which do not destroy the viral particles, allowing them to proliferate and slowly cause severe damage to the body, while destroying host cells.
Recent epidemics affecting the immune system include acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), believed to be caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Related viruses affect animal species, for example, simians and felines (SIV and FIV, respectively). Other major viral infections include, but are not limited to, meningitis, cytomegalovirus, and hepatitis in its various forms.
Current Methods of Treatment
One prior art method of treating viruses of varied etiology is via drug therapy. Most anti-viral drug therapies are directed toward preventing or inhibiting viral replication and appear to focus on the initial attachment of the virus to the T4 lymphocyte or macrophage, the transcription of viral RNA to viral DNA and the assembly of new virus during replication. The high mutation rate of the virus, especially in the case of HIV, is a major difficulty with existing treatments because the various strains become resistant to anti-viral drug therapy. Furthermore, anti-viral drug therapy treatment may cause the evolution of resistant strains of the virus. Other drawbacks to drug therapies are the undesirable side effects and patient compliance requirements. In addition, many individuals are afflicted with multiple viral infections such as a combination of HIV and hepatitis. Such individuals require even more aggressive and expensive drug regimens to counteract disease progression, which in turn cause greater side effects and a greater likelihood of multiple drug resistance. The most effective approach to date for treating HIV is the use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) which is expensive, toxic to the patient, and does not eradicate the virus. Strict adherence to HAART regimen remains a major hurdle, and lapses in compliance lead to bursts of viral replication, and selection of drug resistant strains. Additionally, long-term use of HAART is associated with side effects such as lipodystrophies, altered glucose metabolism and elevated cholesterol and triglycerides in plasma. There is, therefore, a pressing need for additional therapies, either in form of preventative and therapeutic vaccines, or development of immunomodulating agents to augment HAART. The current approaches to HIV vaccine development are reviewed by Mwau et al (2003. A review of vaccines for HIV prevention. J Gene Med 5:3.). Briefly, strategies include a variety of expression vectors, DNA based recombinant vaccines, combinations of DNA based vaccines and viral protein boosts with or without adjuvant. A recent Phase III clinical trial using recombinant gp120 vaccine in Thailand, for example, ended without success (Cohen, J. 2003. Public health. AIDS vaccine still alive as booster after second failure in Thailand. Science 302:1309), possibly because recombinant viral proteins need to be in the correct configuration for appropriate immune responses to be generated. Clearly, other novel approaches to enhancing immune responses to viral antigens need to be evaluated.
Also known in the prior art is prevention of disease via the use of vaccinations. Vaccines have been singularly responsible for conferring immune response against several human pathogens. They are designed to stimulate the immune system to protect against various viral infections. In general, a vaccine is produced from an antigen, isolated or produced from the disease-causing microorganism, which can elicit an immune response. When a vaccine is injected into the blood stream as a preventive measure to create an effective immune response, the B cells in the blood stream perceive the antigens contained by the vaccine as foreign or “non-self” and respond by producing antibodies, which bind to the antigens and inactivate them. Memory cells are thereby produced and remain ready to mount a quick protective immune response against subsequent infection with the same disease-causing agent. Thus when an infective pathogen containing similar antigens as the vaccine enters the body, the immune system will recognize the protein and instigate an effective defense against infection.
The current methods of vaccination do have drawbacks, making them less than optimally desirable for immunizing individuals against particular pathogens, especially HIV. The existing vaccine strategies aim to expose the body to the antigens associated with infective pathogens so that the body builds an immune response against these pathogens. For example, hepatitis B and HIV pathogens are able to survive and proliferate in the human body despite the immune response. One explanation offered in the prior art is that the antigens of these microorganisms change constantly so the antibodies produced in response to a particular antigen are no longer effective when the antigen mutates. The AIDS virus is believed to undergo this antigenic variation. Although antigenic variation has been addressed via the attempted use of combination drugs or antigens, no prior art vaccine has succeeded in addressing chronic infections such as HIV.
Another approach to treating viruses of varied etiology is to inactivate the virus. Prior art methods of inactivating viruses using chemical agents have relied on organic solvents such as chloroform or glutaraldehyde. Viral inactivation does present problems since inactivation of a virus does not provide a protective immune response against viral infection. In addition, it is largely geared towards denaturing viral proteins, thereby destroying the structure of the viral particle. In sum, prior art methods have largely focused on destroying, yet not suitably modifying, viral particles to produce an immune response.
Current Methods of Manufacture of Viral Treatments and Medicaments Viral Inactivation (or Chemical Kill)
Described in the prior art are methods of treating viral particles with organic solvents and high temperatures thus dissolving the lipid envelopes and subsequently inactivating the virus. In those methods, blood is withdrawn from the patient and separated into two phases—the first phase including red cells and platelets and the second phase containing plasma, white cells, and cell-free virus (virion). The second phase is treated with an organic solvent, thereby killing the infected cells and virions, and subsequently reintroduced into the patient. In addition to dissolving the lipid envelope of the virus, the high organic solvent concentrations cause cell death and damage to the antigens. Essentially, this method results in a “chemical kill” of the cell.
Glutaraldehyde is one such solvent whereby cell inactivation is achieved as known by those of ordinary skill in the art by fixation with a dilute solution of glutaraldehyde at about 1:250. Although treating the virus with glutaraldehyde effectively delipidates the virus, it also destroys the core. Destruction of the core is not desirable for producing a modified viral particle useful for inducing an immune response in a recipient.
Chloroform is another such solvent. Chloroform, however, denatures many plasma proteins and is not suitable for use with biological fluids, which will be reintroduced into the animal or human. These plasma proteins deleteriously affected by chloroform serve important biological functions including coagulation, hormonal response, and immune response. These functions are essential to life and thus damage to these proteins may have an adverse effect on a patient's health, possibly leading to death.
Other solvents or detergents such as B-propiolactone, TWEEN-80, and dialkyl or trialkyl phosphates have been used, either alone or in combination. Many of these methods, especially those involving detergents, require tedious procedures to ensure removal of the detergent before reintroduction of the treated plasma sample into the animal or human. Further, many of the methods described in the prior art involve extensive exposure to elevated temperature in order to kill free virus and infected cells. Elevated temperatures have deleterious effects on the proteins contained in biological fluids, such as plasma.
Current Methods of Manufacturing Vaccines
To date, several manufacturing methods have been employed in search of safe and effective vaccines for immunizing individuals against infective pathogenic agents. To protect an individual from a specific pathogenic infection, a target protein or antigen associated with the infective pathogen is administered to the individual. This includes presenting the protein as part of a non-infective (inactivated) or less infective (attenuated) agent or as a discrete protein composition. Known to one of ordinary skill in the art are the following different types of vaccines: live attenuated vaccines, whole inactivated vaccines, DNA vaccines, combination vaccines, recombinant vaccines, live recombinant vector vaccines, virus like particles and synthetic peptide vaccines.
In live attenuated vaccines, the viruses are rendered less pathogenic to the host, either by specific genetic manipulation of the virus genome or by passage in some type of tissue culture system. In order to achieve genetic manipulation, an inessential gene is deleted or one or more essential genes in the virus are partially damaged. Upon genetic manipulation, the viral particles become less virulent yet retain antigenic features. Live attenuated vaccines can also be used as “vaccine vectors” for other genes, wherein they act as carriers of genes from a second virus (or other pathogen) against which protection is required. Attenuated vaccines (less infective and not inactivated), however, pose several problems. First, it is difficult to ascertain when the attenuated vaccine is no longer pathogenic. The risk of viral infection from the vaccine is too great to properly test for effective attenuation. In addition, attenuated vaccines carry the risk of reverting into a virulent form of the pathogen.
Whole inactivated vaccines are known in the art for immunizing against infection by introducing killed or inactivated viruses to introduce pathogen proteins to an individual's immune system. The administration of killed or inactivated pathogens, via heat or chemical means, into an individual introduces the pathogens to the individual's immune system in a non-infective form thereby initiating an immune response defense. Wholly inactivated vaccines provide protection by directly generating cellular and humoral immune responses against the pathogenic immunogens. There is little threat of infection, because the viral pathogen is killed or otherwise inactivated.
Subunit vaccines are yet another form of vaccination well known to one of ordinary skill in the art. These consist of one or more isolated proteins derived from the pathogen. These proteins act as target antigens against which an immune response is exhibited. The proteins selected for the subunit vaccine are displayed by the pathogen so that upon infection of an individual by the pathogen, the individual's immune system recognizes the pathogen and instigates an immune response. Subunit vaccines are not whole infective agents and are therefore incapable of becoming infective. Subunit vaccines are the basis of AIDSVAX, the first vaccine for HIV being tested for effectiveness in humans and which contains a portion of HIV's outer surface (envelope) protein, called gp120.
DNA vaccine is another type known in the art and uses actual genetic material of pathogens. In addition, synthetic peptide vaccines are made up of parts of synthetic, chemically engineered HIV proteins called peptides. They comprise portions of HIV proteins chosen specifically to achieve an anti-HIV immune response. Also mentioned in the prior art are combination vaccines that, when used in conjunction with one another, generate a broad spectrum of immune responses. One example of a combination virus is SHIV, which is a synthetic virus made from the HIV envelope and SIV core.
What is needed is a therapeutic method and system for providing patients with patient-specific viral antigens capable of initiating a protective immune response. Accordingly, what is needed is a simple, effective method that does not appreciably denature or extract proteins from the biological sample being treated. What is also needed is an effective delipidation process via which a viral particle is modified, rather than destroyed, thereby both reducing and/or eliminating infectivity of the viral particle and invoking a patient specific, autologous immune response to further reduce viral infection and prevent further infection.
What is also needed is an effective means to immunize individuals against viral pathogen infection that is unique to the individual due to viral mutations. Preferably the means would elicit a broad protective immune response with minimized risk of infecting the individual.